Delmon Young – Poor 2007 Season ahead

Delmon Young – Poor 2007 Season Ahead

 

 

Delmon Young 2007

 

 

 

Delmon’s accomplishments can’t be ignored. 1st overall in the 2003 draft, Baseball America’s player of the year in 2005, 1st team everything throughout his minor league career.

Cause for concern?

For the all too rare, superstar level player, strikeout to walk ratio is of less importance than that of a regular prospect.

Delmon’s always had poor K:BB ratio’s in his career, 120:53 in A ball (.922 OPS), 66:25 in AA (.968 OPS), and a 65:15 last season in Durham (AAA – .815 OPS).

But during his short 2006 MLB stint at the ridiculously low age of 20, Delmon had a 24:1 ratio in 126 at-bats.

Warning: I’m going to do something that is extremely dangerous and foolhardy. I certainly don’t recommend this to you kids at home. Here I go… I’m going to pro-rate (gasp!) Delmon’s 2006 ratio in a full 550 at-bat season.

Delmon Young 550 AB Season at 2006 Rates: 69 Runs, 13 HR, 43 RBI, .317/.336/.476

Pretty good for a 20 year old player. Most player’s his age are working their way into high A or AA. Now for the kicker;

Strikeout to Walk Ratio: 105: 4

Yep, a 105 to 4 strikeout to walk ratio. Now, is this going to happen in 2007? No way, never, never, never! Yet I can’t in good concise let this stat go unmentioned. Pick up any prospect or fantasy magazine and everyone has Delmon hitting at the rate of an all-star in 2007, knocking out 25 bombs and driving in 90 – 100 runs. There’s little doubt that Delmon will be one of, it not the top player, in the next five years. But judging by these numbers, he’s not there yet. Delmon could still hit .290 – .300 this season, it’s possible. Yet one thing to take into consideration is his combined AAA & MLB at-bats. In 696 ABs he’s hit only 17 HR. His HR power is still in the developmental stage. And in all honesty, that’s to be expected. Come on, the guys on 21 years old! Pass on him in your upcoming fantasy draft, and pick him up in 2008.

 

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4 replies on “Delmon Young – Poor 2007 Season ahead”
  1. says: Callum

    I agree with you that he shouldn’t be a viable option for your fantasy team (although doing how I like to do, I picked him up for the stretch run last year). Poor 2007 season ahead I don’t agree with. He will be above average I think and will only get better as he gets used to the highest level of the game.

  2. says: Kman

    Certainly, a .290 to .300 average is far from poor. The poor comment is more of a “teaser”. But I expect at max something like Reed Johnson’s 2006 in terms of runs, RBI, and HR. It’s just people are relying too much on him knocking the ball out of the park. And it’s still possible that he could hit lower than .290, unless he addresses the K:BB ratio.

  3. says: Cork Gaines

    First of all i am big believer in K:BB ratio. But, you have to take what it measures into consideration. A young player often needs patience to find “his” pitch. A player that has a bad K:BB ratio is not waiting for “his” pitch and is jumping on anything. Every once in a while a player comes along that is so good with a bat he can hit just about anything. Vlad Guerrero? Now i am not saying that Delmon is going to be Vlad yet, but having watched a lot of his at bats last season, I can tell you that is the best young hitter i have EVER seen. I cant even tell you how many times I saw a pitcher try to get him to chase fastball or breaking balls away to only have Young rocket them into right field for a single. And by rocket. I mean ROCKET. He is not going to hit a lot of hme runs early on, because he is such a good hitter and has such a level swing that everything he hits is on a line. The power will come. This kid is good.

  4. says: Kman

    I hope your right about Delmon. I think Delmon is a future all-star, and will be decent this season, but not at the level that others predict. His 24:1 K:BB ratio is one of only three ratios since 1987 that are worse than 20:1 with over 100 AB. The other three are Kim Batiste in 1994 (32:1), Todd (not Adam) Dunn in 1997 (39:2), and Todd Greene in 2003 (47:2). Certainly not “good company”.

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